1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to sharing multimedia data among network devices existing on a network and, more particularly, to network devices and methods for sharing and using multimedia data with other network devices existing on a network, which collect information about multimedia data contained in the other network devices and request the transmission of multimedia data from a network device containing the multimedia data based on the collected information at the request of a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
As operating systems such as Microsoft Windows XP have incorporated Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), research into network environments employing UPnP has been actively conducted. Conventional Plug and Play refers to technology in which a Personal Computer (PC) detects and automatically installs drivers for peripheral devices when the peripheral devices are installed in the PC.
UPnP is an architecture that may be universally used to expand Plug and Play to an entire network and automatically connect devices on a network in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) manner. UPnP automatically connects devices on a network based on Internet standards, such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Currently, as the number of available multimedia data storage devices, such as portable devices and Personal Computers (PCs), increases within homes, a device that enables a user to efficiently manage and use multimedia data at several locations on a home network is required.
However, in the UPnP standard established in the UPnP forum (www.upnp.org), there is a problem in that no method of enabling a user to transmit and receive multimedia data between network devices has yet been provided.
Meanwhile, in a network in which a plurality of devices exists, when information about desired content is requested, a content requester is connected to a server, is authenticated through a member DataBase (DB), and is provided with content information, found in a content DB, through a main server.
Since all of the pieces of connection and characteristic content information are managed and controlled by a server, a problem occurs in that overload may occur when specific content is requested and retrieved.
Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2003-75821, entitled “Content Sharing System”, discloses a system for sharing content, in which content provided by a head office is linked to from the website of a branch office in real time, the branch office freely selects content from a content DB established by the head office and efficiently arranges and provides the selected content on the website of the branch office, thereby promoting use by the members thereof. Further, the system automatically checks records of content usage by the members and creates a log file so that benefits generated by the members who use the content through the website of the branch office are clearly divided between the head office and the branch office in a certain ratio. However, since the provision of the information is performed through the website using website-based technology, it is difficult to re-process the information. Furthermore, related technology is based on a server, so that it cannot be used in an environment in which there is no server. The content is managed in a centralized manner, and, therefore, the entire network load is concentrated on a server, so that it is difficult to manage traffic.
Therefore, technology, in which a plurality of network devices existing on a network all share information about multimedia data (i.e., content information) and, when specific multimedia data is desired to be used, a network device directly requests it from a corresponding network device based on the shared information, is required.